Ah! They’re all lease cars are they? Ok.

Vast majority of them yes!

Guys, think whatever helps you justify your own case but it’s a well known fact that car leasing has massively artificially increased demand for new vehicle production, with the side effects of clogging up residential streets with parked cars (putting people off things like cycling) and effectively making many older vehicles obsolete way before their design lifespans. It’s waste and consumerism at it’s worst!

New car production if you actually bothered to read the link I posted is a very major contributor to CO2 production. Still if it means you get a shiny new motor every 2/3 years then who cares about the planet right? I’ve had the RS4 for 4 years already and can’t see me replacing it in the foreseeable future. A sideline environmental benefit of me having a car that does 21mpg is that it makes me think twice before using it to drive anywhere I could possibly drive/cycle or take the train to. That can only be a good thing.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s very nice but in terms of efficiency it’s a bit of a relic!

Yep about 21mpg average but it’s already been manufactured, and hence is now much more environmentally friendly to keep it on the road than to jump on the bandwagon and buy some supposed Bluemotion Eco VW that does (with cheat box installed) an alleged 60mpg!

Carbon Footprint of a New Car

So all you car leasers upgrading to a new model every 2/3 years are actually doing more damage than you think.

With the greatest of respect, the RS4 is not a great comparison as it’s a different breed of car all together. What will a clutch cost you? A pair of tyres? Exhaust? Proper service?

Servicing the fueling the RS4 isn’t cheap for sure. It’s on 90k miles now so haven’t yet needed a clutch or exhaust but last set of tyres was £480 all round – that’s for Goodyear Eagle F1’s, and a general service around the £3-400 mark. Occasionally it’s needed more expensive stuff doing, e.g. a cambelt approx £700, brake discs and pads, again approx £700 all round for genuine Audi stuff.

Yet comparably, if you break down the cost of running the car over the last 3 years plus any depreciation (which has been minimal) then it works out about the same monthly cost as if I was to do 15k miles a year in a brand new leased Astra/Golf/Civic (insert any other basic, bland uninspiring Eurobox here).

I’m not trying to slate car leasing full stop as it can suit some people, just pointing out that for the same monthly cost you could either have something so much more exciting, or if costs are important, save your self a packet by just forgoing the lease and buying yourself something a few years older.

Sadly it seems that saving up for something you want is old fashioned now. Appreciate that once you go down the leasing route then it’s very difficult for you to break the cycle. This is exactly where the car manufacturers want you as a consumer, tying people into expensive 2/3/4 year financial commitments, after which they still don’t have the money to buy outright so it’s onto another 2/3/4 year deal.

With car’s it’s clear that a DAB radio, parking assist, satnav, bluetooth compatibility, a white paint scheme, keeping up with the Jonses and other pointless gubbins etc are far higher up peoples priority list these days than how the car actually drives, feels, handles or performs. People seem to value ‘new’ over ‘good’.

No, but as mentioned above I would expect to pay more for a better car.

Yes but it’s often not is it, it’s just a newer car, not better? My 9 year old RS4 is probably better in almost every respect than 95% of all new cars on the road. Yet for what it has cost me to buy and run on a monthly basis over the last few years, it works out roughly the same monthly cost as leasing a brand new Vauxhall Astra, and that’s with me doing roughly 15k miles a year.

Leasing needs to be compared buying new not bangers.

Wrong, leasing was purely devised as a way by the car industry to boost sales figures for the manufacturers.

It allows people who couldn’t otherwise afford to buy a new car, yet feel that they simply must ‘keep up with the Jones’ to now drive around in a new (probably white) car and feel good about themselves. Until of course after a few months of ownership, the car is now not quite as white as when it left the showroom, and the Jones new nanny across the road has leased a new Mini that comes in an even whiter shade of white than her dazzling white teeth (which she’s still paying off monthly), and certainly several shades whiter than your now 6 month old car. Damn and Bug*er !!!!

I’m enjoying the fact that lease cars are all brilliant and perfect, and then the day you hand them back they become unreliable heaps of crap that will cost thousands of pounds a year in repairs. I didn’t know that.

We’ll that’s what the industry would have you believe – they need to sell cars after all, and what better way to sell a new car than to convince someone that by spending £1,000’s on a brand new lease arrangement (that’s carefully split into manageable monthly chunks to hide the true cost) that they’re making a financially prudent decision and avoiding the certain financial ruin that a ‘catastrophic’ few hundred pound repair bill on a risky and unreliable 3 year old motor might bring?

You can be lucky with second hand but there’s plenty of trouble waiting for you, especially after 6/7/8+ years old.

Depends if you buy well, research on common faults and then actually look after the thing once you get it. Most people just don’t have a clue when it comes to this.

I always buy performance cars and normally you’ll find that the owners of such cars care more about msintainence and looking after the thing than more mundane metal. You can easily spot the owners who don’t. In over 20 years of buying performance machinery in the 5-10 yr old age range I’ve never yet broken down or had a horrendous bill that you couldn’t consider routine maintainence or unexpected. And I’ve saved 1,000’s over the years by driving rare and special cars, when I could have spent a lot more and had something bland and boring on lease.

Why anyone in their right mind would pay £xxx a month to rent a bland and dull Eurobox is beyond me! Oh but then it’s new I guess? Sh*t but new!

Including maintainence, the extra fuel, insurance and depreciation (now minimal) the 9 year old RS4 avant we have works out cheaper per month than if we leased something new but boring like a Passat or Mondeo estate. Know which one I’d rather be driving. Each to their own I guess.

To be honest I’ve yet to find a bottled ale that tastes anywhere near as good as a well kept ale from a proper keg in the pub.

Bottled lager seems to travel and keep much better. With real ale from a bottle (or even worse from a can), then I’ve always been left feeling a little disappointed.

Therefore the rules in our house are:

Beer from the fridge at home = bottled German or continental lager.

Beer at the pub = nice pint of real ale (provided it’s a descent pub).

Appen I don’t want a giant bottle or to spend the whole evening drinking any kind of beer let alone the same beer?

You would if it was good beer ;)

The brewer at the brewery next door to me calls them Alcho-hops

Yes would agree with that, for sure. Now if you want a good beer, that you can drink all night, without the hipster bulls hit or harsh aftertaste then no need to look any further than:

or perhaps:

Lucky to live up’t North in this respect :)

Brewdog beer, in any guise I’ve tried is always far to hoppy and citrusy for me. Doesn’t make for good session drinking ale like some of the brilliant Lakeland beers. Regularly in brewdog I’ve felt like not finishing one of their pints. Sure the odd pint of brewdog ale is fine but couldn’t do more than one or two on a regular basis.

Suburbanreuben is correct, it’s an extra 3% on any second property regardless of whether primary residence, non primary residence, let or whatever reason. The only difference is I believe you have 18 months grace to sell your old place.

Regardless, if you’re planning on letting out, increase in stamp duty is small news, a much bigger consideration is that the tax rules of offsetting mortgage interest against income are changing drastically. May put a lot of BTL landlords into the red. I wouldn’t bother now that’s for sure.

Those of my close friends whose lives I know well and I think are most happy with themselves, their relationships and their lives in general barely post on FB – I think they’re too focussed on giving to those relationships and being present for those people, rather than sitting in the same room ignoring them whilst living some fake reality on FB

Could be right, the reason I signed up to FB was was stay in touch with people and because there’s a few group things organised through it. See how it could become a big one-upmanship thing though!

If it wasn’t a useful tool for the group thing then I’d probably sack it off.

Almost as dull as look my children did something children do posts

And that’s a whole new debate, tend to rapidly hide people from my news feed who post endless, almost daily pictures of their ‘bloody’ kids.

Q1 – Yes, as you age, people of a similar age still look attractive to you. My Mum is a very fit 86 year-old widow and quite often she complains that she’s being pursued by some randy old chap.

Well that’s reassuring then, hopefully we won’t turn into some of those old men who leer at 20’s something women.

Just look at how many STI’s there are in old peoples homes…

Not sure I wanted to hear that!!!

you get a hard on from a car, thats v sad.

Haha, it was just a joke :roll: Seriously though some of us choose to enjoy life and whist you’re sat there worrying about whether your car does 52 or 54mpg, the rest of us are out there actually having fun :lol:

All this talk about saving fuel, I prefer to enjoy my driving and not stress about it. With a 425bhp + 4WD estate then 25mpg on a long run is pretty good going, but to be honest I’d rather drive the thing as intended so normally it hovers around the 19mpg average.

The accounts guy in work was bragging to me the other week about how his new Passat got him over 60mpg on his daily commute, followed by the question “what do you get from your car then?”

I was tempted to say “laid”, or “a hard on” but instead bit my tongue and simply said to him “a smile”.

That seems reasonable. I’ve driven the M4 between Cardiff and Reading hundreds of times since I got the Passat – first time out I got 48mpg, then it kept going up and up to 55mpg, then I got eco tyres, and my (repeatable) best is about 62mpg. No idea why it went up gradually like that.

Sitting tight in behind the trucks and not overtaking perhaps? :wink:

Some men and women can be trusted to have friends of the opposite sex and some can’t.

Exactly, as a red blooded male I’d happily fall into a pit of mindless fornication with any of the attractive women I meet on a daily basis if I was single, if they were single, and if both of us wanted it. But if I’m in a relationship or if they’re in a relationship then it’s a no go.

Doesn’t stop me wanting to have sex with them, it just means that I value my relationship with my GF and the trust within it over and above me wanting to get a quick bit of ‘leg over’. So I keep these thoughts to myself, treat attractive ladies with respect and don’t do anything inappropriate.

So if you’re in a relationship, provided your GF does not look like Shrek, there will no doubt be countless guys wanting to have sex with her. You can’t do anything to change this so provided she’s sane, trustworthy and committed to the relationship there’s no point in worrying about it.

I don’t trust these other guy friends and she doesn’t trust these other women friends.

Sounds like a great relationship, sounds like you both have issues. Trust is a pretty fundamental thing to have in a relationship. I think you’ll find that things won’t work out very well if you don’t have it.

My Mrs has quite a few male friends through work and sports. Do they all want to sh*g her? Probably quite a few of them do yes. Would it happen and do I worry about it? No, because I trust her and our relationship is important to both of us.

Do i go and threaten her friends because some of them want to sh*g her? No, because I’m a confident guy I don’t feel threatened by it, I quite like the fact that my Mrs is desirable and receives attention from other men. It re-enforces my decision that I made a good choice with her.

Because of that trust we have a good relationship whereby she can also trust me to keep my ‘roving lad’ in my trousers every time I’m left alone in an environment full of dishy young ladies (ladies whom if I was still single I’d be banging away at like a barn door in a force 9 gale). Works both ways. Good luck :)

On a serious note OP, if what you say is true, she sounds like an insecure fruitloop. Playing games, different rules, manipulative behavior, attention seeking and insecurity are massive red flags in any women. You’ll be glad you got out whilst you did.

Was it this guy?

I just don’t get these cars. Can’t comprehend why someone would walk into a showroom and order one of these (or one of the many other faceless crossover 4×4 coupes)?

Expensive, heavy, ugly, very impractical (compared to an estate or proper 4×4), not sporty (compared to a proper sports Coupe)?

Where’s the plus points? I don’t get it, I really just can’t get my head around it?

I find yoga the biggest help for me with recovery, oh and snowboarding seems to almost magically fix my back – must be all the flexing and twisting. Basically activity, stretching, getting up and about is the best thing for it, sitting down for long periods of time is the devils work. Biking is a mixed bag and often I find the symptoms get worse for me after spending a few hours on the bike – not good!

Tried to be conscious of my posture when sitting, but it’s all to easy to slouch on the sofa when you forget about it. And I forget about it most of the time if I’m honest. Therefore lots of core work is essential – can plank for over 5 mins now no problem so really do have a core of steel.

i see it more as curiosity, looking at somebody who desires those things when you have no desires for them yourself.
i dont drive even though i like cars but i think anything that goes over 75mph belongs on the track and not on our congested roads to sit in stationary traffic for hours, i look on with bemusement at just about anyone with an expensive car, more so if it costs around their yearly income, they live with mum and dad and is on the never-never.
doesn’t make me better than them but i do ponder their thinking behind overspending on a depreciating asset that is i’ll suited to U.K. roads. and why they choose that outlet for their ego.

You could say that about a bike too:

On a serious not though, why would what someone else chooses to spend their money ever worry you?

Don’t see what the problem is to be honest? As a young boy, among-st other cars I always loved Porches, particularly the 911.

I went for a drive in a 911 a few months back and it was lovely. I didn’t buy it but I still might buy one, as soon as Mrs 007 changes her car to something more practical that can carry bikes.

Does that make me part of the ‘mid life crisis’ or just plain ‘toss*r’ brigade? Perhaps, but in my eyes I’m still just a young boy, whose always loved cars, and it’s only now I’m middle aged I can actually afford to buy and run such a machine.

If I could have afforded it when I was 17 then I’d have bought one then without hesitation. Unfortunately (or possibly quite fortunately for the NHS budget), back then I couldn’t.

Awesome place, blue lagoon touristy and commercial but certainly recommended for an afternoon – it’s like no where else! October a great month to visit although I’d skip the whale watching trip – the whale’s will be long gone by that time of year. Also Northern lights rarely get seen as it’s so cloudy in Iceland. Get yourself a hire car, it’s so easy to get around and there’s almost no traffic.

Glacier walk was the highlight for us – you can combine it with a trip to see the waterfalls in the south.

In Reyjkavik, pop to the bar in the Kex Hostel (looks like an office block from outside but is actually and old biscuit factory) for their home brewed beer, live music, and awesome food.

Considering your attitude; I have zero sympathy whatsoever. You come across as moany, entitled and selfish. If my kids grow up with that kind of outlook, I’ll consider myself to be a shit parent.

Haha I’m alright Jack!

So take the 2 bed flat mentioned on the last page for £220k. Still not chump change, but the mortgage will be about the same or less than the Studio flat rent.

If he can get approved for the mortgage and save up the £25-50K deposit that will be required to get the loan at a decent rate? The days of self cert (liar loans), interest only loans etc for first time buyers are well and truly over. Seems the banks prefer to lend money to the BTL brigade these days.

Sorry but mobile phones, a car, a laptop, a fast internet connection etc are basic essentials now if you want to stand any chance of holding down a decent job.

Years ago they weren’t of course, most people were lucky enough to live near where they worked, the job they had was pretty much for life, they did their 9-5, their partner stayed at home and looked after the kids and yet still they could afford to buy a decent house on a single salary.

Now, unless you’re incredibly well paid, or you have a nice lump sum from your parents, you’d struggle to buy almost anything on a single salary in most parts of the UK, and that’s despite interest rates being at an all time low!

Certainly sounds like the entitlement is strong in this one.

On the other side of the coin, why do the older generation feel ‘entitled’ to a good pension, ‘entitled’ to good care in old age, and ‘entitled’ to have their property maintain it’s value?

And who’s expected to fund this? The young – the workers, those people that are struggling to rent, let alone buy.

You can stuff your entitlement up your a*se, housing, whether rented or bought is a basic social need, not an entitlement!!!!

And I own a house that’s already 60% paid off. Still doesn’t change my view on how tough it is out there for the young at the moment.

you keep siting this …. how ever as the tax will go up across the board – youll find rents go up across the board – even those not affected by it will use it as an excuse to put their rents up to match the others so they get more money in…… cutthroat business.

Sorry absolute rubbish – what rental apartment or house is not already currently rented out for the maximum that the local market can sustain? Landlords can’t simply put the rent up to whatever they feel, well I guess they can I suppose, it all depends whether they want someone to live in it I guess?

People who don’t own houses keep saying that the prices will crash as if they say it enough, they will. They will go down a bit, and they will go up a bit. There is very very little chance that this magic crash that renters are hoping for will ever happen. There is too much money at stake.

Wouldn’t be so sure of that. Times are changing and the young are becoming very disenfranchised with the whole situation. Students are currently leaving universities with an average of £44k in debt. As more and more young people reach voting age then I’d expect government policy to gradually swing in their favour. If market forces haven’t already taken their toll before then (which I suspect they will have), eventually they’ll be too much money and votes at stake for house prices not to fall or be forced to fall to affordable levels.

Part of the problem is no one seems to be building 2-3 bed family homes. It’s either 4/5/6 bed ‘luxury’ properties, or 1/2 bed flats (i.e. suited to people with lots of money, or suited to BTL landlords).

Market feels very very peaky at the moment and with prices increasing so rapidly this year it’s the absolute classic sign of the frenzy that precedes any market bust. Prospective BTL purchasers are trying to complete their transactions before the start of April when the new BTL tax system takes effect – I suspect after April demand will drop significantly.

Don’t forget when prices start to drop then they can drop fast. With the amount of leveraged BTL cash and investment property sloshing around then the market is much more susceptible to this than ever before. Once prospective property purchasers get wind of this then they’re liable to sit tight and postpone their purchase, adding fuel to the fire, after all why buy a house now when in 6 months time it could be £££k cheaper?

Is it any wonder that the standards of driving are so poor? The roads are virtually unpoliced – apart from cameras.

This. Part of the reason we’re in this mess is not only the lack of investment in the roads (or alternatives to keep people off them like cheap trains, good quality bike lanes etc), but also part of it is the frankly shocking ability of a lot of the motorists who don’t know how to make swift yet courteous progress on the same said roads

Most of these motorists I’m convinced think that just because they don’t speed, then that makes them good drivers. Due to the focus on speed, and the lack of police on the road then cue plenty of lane hogging, mobile phone use, incorrect lane usage, 40mph drivers on NSL roads, lack of observation or mirror use, lack of planning or thinking ahead, incorrect merging at obstructions causing tailbacks, tailgating, lack of indication, dog eat dog mentality etc. Speeding really is the least of our worries, because due to most of the above it’s rare anyone gets the opportunity to speed these days anyway.

I particularly disliked the A1 in Northumberland when I was up there. Too many arseholes doing 50 mph on a road fit for twice that in places.

Ozone will be fine and their 3 line Ignition looks really nice. 2-2.5m will be perfect and you’ll not get into any trouble with one of those. Peter Lynn also do some nice trainer kites as does North, and pretty much every other major kite surf brand. Just make sure you go for a kite listed as ‘kitesurf trainer’ a kite with a bar control rather than handles etc.

Once you’ve got the kite just go to a large open field or beach and practise, finding out where the power is etc. Once you’re happy controlling with two hands, start flying one handed, then fly the kite without looking at it. All good practice to give you a headstart on the water.

So whilst I do not have an issue with small businesses and contractors paying what is fair what I do have an issue with is that the government takes easy pickings whilst leaving those corporations with large legal and tax departments to carry on regardless. It’s not a level playing field at the moment and the new dividend tax will make it worse.

Yes it’s this I was referring to with the reference to Google. This and the fact that those taking the risk to set up a business (not as a contractor) but as a proper business, possibly employing others, possibly generating exports are being lumped into the same category as contractors.